A National Park Service report says visitors to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore along Lake Michigan spent more than $63 million in nearby communities during 2010, helping support more than 650 jobs.Park Superintendent Constantine Dillon tells the Post-Tribune of Merrillville that surve

The U.S. remains one of the top tourist destinations in the world, but it’s getting some steep competition from other countries. The European Union spends a collective $800 million per year promoting foreign tourism; Mexico spends $150 million; Australia, $113 million.

Niagara Falls, like most Rust Belt cities, has fallen on hard times. Even its tourist attraction, which once made it America’s honeymoon capital, has not saved it from economic woes. But there seems to be hope in Niagara Falls, thanks to a rising current of East Indian tourists.

The last decade was an especially tough one for Michigan: The state had the highest unemployment figures in the country for four years straight, peaking around 14 percent. Over the last decade, the population in 15 of its 20 largest cities shrank.

Front and Center's report illustrated how Pure Michigan was a successful effort to rebrand the state but Eight Forty-Eight wondered about a brand for the entire Great Lakes region. Jeff Leitner and Howell J.